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Monday, February 17, 2014

Hi everyone! And welcome to Vicktor Alexander's In the Beginning Blog Tour. Today is release day and Vic is celebrating with a giveaway, so don't forget to enter the Rafflecopter at the end of his post.

“The Beginning” Release Day!

-calls out into the darkness-

Helloooooooooo!!!! Anybody out there?

-cricket sounds-

Hello to all of you who have been following the tour and welcome to those of you who are new to it. I’m Vicktor Alexander and I’m so grateful to Gale for hosting me today, RELEASE DAY, for The Beginning. I’m really excited about this book and it has been so much fun to share a lot of the behind-the-scenes information with all of you.For today’s post I tried to think of something special that I could share with all of you… maybe another excerpt from the book, more of the world building, another deleted scene? And then I realized that I could share something about Ronny, B.C. (Before Cole) that could be a nice little “prequel” for those of you who are going to buy the book, already bought the book but haven’t read it yet, and even for those of you who have bought the book and already read it.

So, in honor of The Beginning’s release day, here’s a very small short:My name is Ronny. Well, actually it’s Ronald Parker, you don’t need to worry about my middle name, it’s not important. At least not now. Maybe when I’m older I’ll care about the middle name that my parents gave me, but right now?

Right now I don’t care.

Right now, all I care about is the fact that it’s really late at night and that at eight years old I’m getting ready to do something that could get me into a lot of trouble.

You see, I live in Harlem, New York City, New York. I was born here, just like both of my parents and just like their parents and so on. No one from my family ever tried to leave Harlem. Ever. And I probably wouldn’t have even thought about it, if it hadn’t been for this strange noise I’d heard that night.

I was lying in bed thinking about what I was going to do the next day since it was going to be a Saturday when I heard what sounded like someone calling my name. I sat up in bed and listened. When I heard it again, I climbed out of bed and went to my bedroom door. Being an only child I was lucky, I didn’t have to share a room with anyone, but there were some times when I wish that I had a brother or sister to get into trouble with, to talk to late at night… to turn and ask if they heard that. When I didn’t hear anything I turned to go back to bed when I heard my name again, but this time it was coming from the window.

I walked over to my bedroom window and looked out and saw a man standing on the sidewalk beneath my window looking up at me. Without thinking about what I was doing, or the fact that I did not know who he was, I rushed around my room and pulled on a pair of jeans, socks, my sneakers, and a jacket, before sliding my baseball cap over my thick, black hair which hung to just beneath my chin. I walked over to my window and sliding it open, I turned to make sure no one had heard me, before climbing out of the window onto the fire escape. I slowly made my way down the stairs until I came to a stop on the sidewalk. Face-to-face with the tallest man I’d ever seen in my life.

“Hello Ronald,” he said with a smile.

“Hello,” I replied, suddenly feeling shy, and having the overwhelming urge to kneel at the man’s feet, like he was a king or something.

“Would you like to take a walk with me?” he asked.

“Umm…” it was only at this point that my rational mind caught up with my circumstances. I was outside, late at night, on the streets of Harlem—with a stranger—and no one in my family knew. Just then, the man in front of me, the stranger smiled and crouched in front of me. His skin was tanned and his hair a shockingly bright, white color that hung down over his shoulders. He had bright, light brown eyes that looked as if the sun were shining from behind them, a slim nose and round chin. He sort of reminded me of those pictures of Jesus that hung up in the church and my grandmother’s house.

“I can assure you that Jesus looks nothing like those pictures,” the stranger told me.

My eyes got really big then and I stared at him in shock. “You know Jesus?” I asked in amazement.

The man chuckled and nodded his head. “He’s my son. And actually, his Father named him Emmanuel, I personally like Yeshua.”

My eyes narrowed at his words. “Two men can’t have a child together. And especially not Jesus. Because his father is God and his mother is Mary.”

The man in front of me sighed and shook his head. I couldn’t understand everything he muttered underneath his breath, but I did catch, “Corrupt religion,” “Not what I said,” “Twist my words,” and “Destroyed so many lives with their lies.” I was kind of shocked at what he was saying and I would have interrupted him but he stopped and looked at me. “Ronald, that is very incorrect. Two men can have a child together. They can have many children together. Just like two women can have a child or many children together. I designed them, you all, that way. So that in case you didn’t find your mate, you would still be able to be fruitful and multiply.”

My eyes widened and a knot of fear, one that I hadn’t even noticed I’d had at the time, just melted away at his words. He was giving me permission to be true to myself. It made me happy.

“Really?” I asked him softly.

He nodded. “Truly. And you have to believe this Ronny because it’s very important for you, your future, your family, the world, and the little boy who lays outside like a big… cat and asks me to send someone to love him.”

My heart started beating furiously at the mention of this other little boy and I wanted to ask another question. I wanted to ask so many questions, but the man in front of me stood up and held out his hand.

“Let’s go talk,” he said to me.

This time I didn’t hesitate and I put my hand in his and noticed that as soon as I got close to him gold glitter started to fall on me. I wonder what that is? When I woke up the next morning, safely tucked in my bed, wearing my pajamas, with my window closed, I thought it had all been a dream, until I noticed all of the gold glitter on my clothes in the corner. I smiled as I realized that my late night excursion hadn’t been a dream and that I was completely fine. Just as I got ready to leave my bed, I heard his voice again, calling my name. Only this time, I heard him in my head, as if he’d taken up residence there. I knew it was just a memory from the night before, but it was as if he were telling me all over again so that I didn’t forget it.

“Why did you want to talk to me?” I asked him.

“Because you are one of the chosen,” he told me.

“Chosen for what?” I looked up at him and he smiled.

“There will come a time when the world will be thrown into chaos. You will be called upon to stand with others, to lead the charge, and help to change the world for the better. For everyone in the world, not just a select few.”

My eyes widened at his words and I almost stumbled, thankful when he caught me. I looked up at him, not believing his words.

“How do I know you’re telling me the truth?” I asked.

He smiled at me. “Usually my name does it, but I know you Ronald, your faith is rooted in the visual, but that’s not something I can give you until you’re older.

But, I will give you my name.” We stopped then and he looked down at me, glowing brighter and brighter until he looked like the sun. I had to close my eyes against the brightness as he showed his power, now a little afraid, not really afraid, I was in awe of him.

“I have been given many names by the Sons of Adam: God, Allah, Krishna, Buddha—but my name, my true name is one that the Sons of Adam, the Sons of Avus, the Sons of Axilum, the Sons of Atolium, the Sons of Asilion, the Sons of Azon, nor the sons of Awheybus, will ever be allowed to utter unless they have shown themselves to be worthy. I am Ypértato On. The Supreme Being.

The creator of the world. And you, Ronald Parker, were chosen for such a time as this.”

I blinked and like dust blowing in the wind, my memories of the night before began to fade away, becoming a dream I would have consistently over the years and would forget by the time I had my first cup of coffee.

As a matter of fact, I had the dream the night before my life changed forever. And when I got up that next morning and got dressed for work as a barista at Starbucks, I couldn’t help but feel as if there was something hanging in the atmosphere. I shook it off and rushed down the stairs of my apartment building, racing for the bus and almost collided with a man who stood on the sidewalk, just watching me. He looked familiar and for a moment the wispy strands of a forgotten dream started to come back to me, but just as quickly, they faded away again. I smiled at the man and raced for the bus.

I reached the bus just in time and turned to look back down the sidewalk at the man, but he was gone. A name flittered through my mind then, Ypértato On, and when I walked back to find a seat on the bus, I couldn’t help but feel as if there was something missing from my life, some clue I was forgetting, and as if I were meant for more than just being a barista.

I was right, and it wouldn’t be long before I would find out just how much more I was meant for.The Beginning is NOW AVAILABLE at Rooster & Pig Publishing! You can buy it here:http://www.roosterandpigpublishing.com/new-releasesIt will be available at third-party sellers within a week, though you can pre-order it from them now: ARe, Bookstrand, Kobo, NOOK, & Amazon.

Blurb:Ronny Parker has always been aware that there was more to life outside of his Harlem apartment. When he goes to work one morning at Starbucks, he finds himself coming face to face with a reality that he was not prepared for. He finds himself the eyewitness to a fight between two shifters, a wolf and a lion, one of which bites Ronny and calls him “mate.” When Ronny wakes up the next morning, he finds himself thrust into a world neither his family, nor his teachers, ever taught him about and he does the only thing he can do. He starts to investigate.Cole Tronk has been taught from an early age that he is never to mate a human, never reveal his true nature to a human, and that he cannot be gay. But when he gets into a fight with his oldest friend outside of a Starbucks and finds himself smelling the most intoxicating scent ever, he throws all of those rules out of the window. Before long, Cole and his mate, Ronny, are on the run from the governing body of the paranormals, humans who have now discovered that paranormals, magicks, and supernaturals exist, and someone from Ronny’s past who is determined to kill them both.Along the way, Cole and Ronny meet up with a group of paranormals, magicks, and supernaturals who are also gay, and who are researching the true history of the world and creation. What they find will not only change their lives, but the entire world and the future. Will Ronny and Cole’s mating survive all of these obstacles? When a millennia-old lie comes back to bite them in the ass, will Ronny and Cole be able to deal with the consequences?

Oohh!! Thank you so very much for the excerpt!! <3 Though, I'm not gonna read it now.... ahha... I'm gonna wait till I own the book to dig into it. heehee..Thanks again!I'm having so much fun on the tour! :D